The Islamic Empires - In Transition (770-775)

The Deterioration of Imperial Leadership

• Islamic empires went under dramatic change from 16th to 18th centuries
• Afghan tribesmen marched to Isfahan and blockaded the city killing thousands
• Subcontinent was falling under British imperial rule by midcentury 1700
• Ottoman realm began to shrink

Dynastic Decline

• Decline caused by rulers spending money on themselves rather than affairs of state
• Fighting happened between members of ruling houses
• Government was corrupted by inexperienced rulers like Selim the Sot and Ibrahim the Crazy

Religious Tensions

• Tensions increased when religious conservatives abondoned policies of tolerance
• Conservative Muslims protested construction of astronomical observatory in Istanbul, also forced closure of Ottoman priniting press
• Shiite leaders in Safavid empire pressured shahs to persecute Sunnis, non-Muslims, and Sufis
• Aurangzeb's policies in Mughal, India provoked animosity of Hindus

(CO)

Economic Decline

• By 18th century trade for Islamic empires declined falling to the Europeans
• Large militaries brought economic decline
• When expansion stopped resources became limited
• Wars in Europe, Mesopotamia, and India weakend Islamic empires by reducing their resources
• Lack of expansion caused the empire to loose remote provinces
• Officials tried to regain money by charging taxes, it provided immediate money but long term economic damage
• Government thought foreign trade would bring in more income, making matters worse though

Military Decline

• They didn't improve military technology causing their military to decline
• In 16th and 17th century they relied on European technology for military weapons
• In the mid 17th century European military technology was advancing too quickly for the Islamic empires to keep up
• Relied on foreign trade for military weapons
• By 18th century the Ottoman navy, who once mastered maritime affairs, stopped building ships relying on foreign shipyards

(GG)

Cultural Conservatism

• Islamic empires neglected cultural development in the larger world
• visiting Europeans learned about the language, religion, social customes, and history and published their knowledge
• Ottoman geographers were interesteed in European knowledge, as well

Piri Reis

• Ottoman admiral and cartographer
• produced several large-scale maps and the Book of Seafaring-used European maps and reports
• included Atlantic coast of North America and the lands visited by Columbus

Cultural Conservatism

• few Muslims traveled to lands of the Franks
• thought that Muslims were superior and thought they had nothing to learn from Europeans
• Around 1703 there was an attempt to introduce European scientific instruments
• conservative Muslim clerics forced the removal of foriegn implements

(RS)